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Peaceful ad: A newspaper reader displays a copy of an advert by the Palestinian Authority published in an Israeli newspaper, at a coffee shop in Jerusalem, November 20, 2008. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has taken his case for a peace deal directly to ordinary Israelis, assuring them in Hebrew-language newspaper ads that a withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip and parts of Jerusalem would bring them full recognition by the Arab world. The ad says 57 Arab and Muslim countries would establish diplomatic ties with Israel in exchange for a withdrawal from the lands that would make up a Palestinian state.Photo: Associated Press (AP) / Sebastian Scheiner

An independent Jordanian newspaper has refused to publish a Palestinian advertisement promoting an Arab peace initiative with Israel because it contains the Jewish state's flag, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported.

"We refused to publish the paid advertisement because the source, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) negotiations department, refused to remove the Israeli flag," a senior editor at the Arabic-language Al-Arab Al-Yawm told AFP. "We also rejected the advertisement because it seeks to promote the idea that Israel accepts the peace initiative, although Israeli officials have rejected the initiative."

The advertisement shows the flags of all Arab and Muslim countries, in addition to the Israeli Star of David, saying all these states have accepted the Arab peace initiative.

The Saudi-sponsored peace plan, first proposed in 2002, offers Israel normalisation of relations and comprehensive peace agreements with Arab countries in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from all the occupied territories. Israel, which had rejected the peace plan out of hand when it was first adopted but has voiced renewed interest as a basis for talks.

The Israel National News provided some background from the Israeli perspective: [Link]

The 22-member Arab League, which does not include the Persian country of Iran, has confirmed support for the Saudi Plan. It calls for a new Arab state on all the land that was restored Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967, including the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

The initiative also calls for the right of more than five million Arabs to immigrate to Israel based on the claim that they are descendants of several hundreds of thousands of Arabs who fled during the wars in 1948 and 1967. In return, the Arab nations would "normalise" relations with Israel, but there is no definitive statement that it would recognise the Jewish state

On November 20, the PLO placed advertisements in Israeli newspapers to promote the six-year-old Arab peace plan for the region. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's PLO published the full-page notices in Hebrew in four major dailies. They described the Arab plan, which was first proposed in 2002 but has long found little interest from Israel.

"Fifty-seven Arab and Islamic countries will establish diplomatic ties and normal relations with Israel in return for a full peace agreement and an end to the occupation," the text read, under Palestinian and Israel flags set side by side.